Sanctuary of Faith

Faith collection site?

Faith was not an unfamiliar word to Wain.

Most people in the Kaster City-State were believers of either the Church of Dawn or the Storm Church, and Dawn Radiance and Storm Ocean were their faiths.

Collection site—did that refer to this surrounding area?

This had to be the preaching ground of the Eternal Life Society that Lacy and the others had mentioned!

Wain frowned as he looked at the panel. He hated these mysterious things the most; they were all blind spots in his knowledge.

Still, after seeing the rewards on the panel, his mood balanced out a little.

He even began wondering what would have happened if he had fired a shot at that shadow just now.

Maybe it would no longer have been just an assist from a glance?

He would try it next time!

Then Wain glanced over his current attributes and found that his Spirit Level had already exceeded level 25.

Name: Wain Loft

Bloodline: Salute Lineage

Occupation: Wizard Apprentice (Beginner)

Tenacity Level: 20 (21-1) (Temporary)

Spirit Level: 25.64

Origin: 3 (4) (1 point of Origin sealed)

Talent: None

Partner Contract—Calamity Species: Increased wound-healing speed, increased bodily recovery speed.

Skills: Ghost Meditation Method Lv. 2 (0/100), Gonzalez Language Proficient (0/100)

Runology Knowledge Tree: Introduction to Runology, Soul-Devouring Rune Lv. 1 (0/1)

Survival Points: 47

There was one extra item: Partner Contract—Calamity Species.

Was Tina's talent self-healing?

Wain thought of the battle scene just now, that darkened perspective, called Tina Vision...

Could that be the world as she saw it?

In a void of darkness, only the people around her gave off light, while everyone else was just a black outline?

If that was really the case, it was far too miserable.

"Wain?"

Wain came back to himself and looked at Lacy's concerned eyes. "What is it?"

"Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Wain quickly waved his hand. "With you and Captain Ariana here, I believe nothing will happen."

"Exactly right."

Ariana walked over and said smugly, "I don't care who from the Eternal Life Society it is. As long as I'm here..."

Bang!

Lacy slammed a fist into his face. "Save that kind of talk for fooling the people in your Second Division."

Ariana staggered from the blow, clutching his face and glaring at her. "Lacy!!"

"Mm?"

"I was going to ask when we continue!"

Ariana shouted in embarrassed anger, "The Eternal Life Society actually dared to preach here. I can't wait to wipe them out."

Wain: "..."

Well done, Captain Ariana.

He had shouted the most cowardly words in the fiercest tone. Impressive.

"Now."

Lacy looked to the other side. "Marco, leave this place to the City Guard. It's time for us to move out."

"Got it."

Marco dropped the corpse in his hands and grinned at the City Guard. "Big Brother Giuseppe, we'll leave this place to you. I have to go carry out the mission with my superior."

"Mm. Don't forget what we talked about before. We've been waiting for your drinking party for a long time."

"Shh!"

Marco hurriedly covered his mouth, turned his head, met Lacy's icy gaze, and laughed awkwardly. "Ma'am, he—he was joking."

Lacy snorted. "Get over here already!"

With that, she turned and walked deeper into Laos District.

Now was not the time to argue about this. Once they got back, she would let him learn just how formidable she could be.

This time, he did not have Tina's contract to help him recover from his injuries...

"Coming, coming."

Marco let go of the City Guard in his hand and jogged over, muttering under his breath, "I'm done for, I'm done for, I'm done for. I'm dead. It's all that Giuseppe bastard's fault."

Wei En waited until he arrived, then followed Lacy and the others with him.

And Tina, just like before, clutched the hem of his clothes with her small hand, unwilling to leave him by even a single step.

Wei En still had not figured out how to handle his relationship with her for the time being, so he could only let her follow like this for now.

"Brother Marco, Sister Lacy probably won't attack you here, but it's hard to say once we get back."

"Actually, you didn't have to be so kind as to remind me."

Marco gave him a resentful look. With what he knew of Lacy, something like that was very likely to happen...

But that mood lasted only a short while. Soon, a smile returned to his face, and he asked teasingly, "That fight just now didn't scare you, did it?"

"No."

Wei En shook his head. "I just found it a little unexpected. I didn't think I'd run into something like this on my very first mission."

"It really has been a long time since we last saw anyone from the Eternal Life Society."

"Who exactly are they?"

"A bunch of madmen. A bunch of madmen who crave 'eternal life.'"

Thinking of the records on the Eternal Life Society inside the Secret Investigation Bureau, Marco said warily, "Quite a few strange cases in our Investigation Department that couldn't be cleared up were later found to have been their doing."

They craved eternal life?

Wei En said thoughtfully, "The parchment I translated this morning had the Eternal Life Society's name on it. A long time should have passed from the Third Era to now, right?"

"I'm not too sure about that. The turning of eras erased a lot of traces. Maybe only a colossus like the Church of Dawn would have relevant records."

The Specter School probably had them too.

Wei En remembered that in the handbook the school had issued before, there had been a piece of advice left from the Third Era.

[Knowledge is power! But remember, when you pursue knowledge, knowledge is also pursuing you! (Left by Lister, founder and wizard of the Specter School, Third Era year 138.)] (Chapter 3)

The school had been founded in the Third Era, so there were probably records of everything that had happened during that period.

If he had the chance, he would find someone from the school and ask.

"What about Claire?"

"A relatively active and dangerous figure within the Eternal Life Society."

A rare serious expression appeared on Marco's face. "I heard before that she had been active in Kland City-State all this time, making the Secret Investigation Bureau over there lose all face."

"It's said that no one has ever seen what she really looks like. They only know her ability is extremely bizarre, and that she can turn into anyone's figure and appearance."

"I didn't expect her to come to Kaster. I'm afraid the Secret Investigation Bureau is going to be busy from here on out..."

Kland City-State was the capital of the Shetland Kingdom.

To be able to cause destruction in a place like that, this person's strength had to be terrifying.

No wonder Lacy and the others had gone all out the moment the battle began.

Wei En understood, and sighed. "So that's where 'Thousand-Face' comes from..."

Marco comforted him, "No need to worry too much. Since we know she's come to Kaster, there will always be a way to deal with her."

With the strength of their Secret Investigation Bureau, they were not yet at the point of fearing one Thousand-Face Claire. She was just extremely troublesome.

At that moment, Lacy stopped up ahead. "Ariana, try here. Find a way to locate the Eternal Life Society's gathering place hidden in Laos."

Ariana looked around. "Here, the rotten aura of the Eternal Life Society is even stronger."

"Begin."

"All right."

As they spoke, Wei En and the others also came over, standing behind them and looking around.

Wei En did not smell the rotten aura Ariana spoke of. He only felt that this place was ten times colder and gloomier than the place before.

In addition, compared to the ruined buildings outside, the structures here were instead very well preserved.

Only, under the dim environment, they seemed even more sinister, and even more silent.

Wei En raised his head to look at the sun overhead, then swept his gaze over the dark surroundings.

A strange thought could not help surfacing in his mind: Even those experts and professors from my previous life would probably have a hard time explaining the scene before me, wouldn't they?

"Simon, Phantom, Hain, Hoefen..."

At that moment, Ariana pressed his palms together and once again began chanting loudly. "Sethbuda, Krillang..."

Changed?

"Oath, great guardian spirit—heroic spirits of the Holmes Family, I beseech you to grant guidance, to seek..."

Hearing him chant that hymn, Wei En could barely bring himself to look straight at him.

Ariana's whole body swelled up again, but this time it was not his head. It was his limbs.

Tentacles pierced through his clothes one after another, constantly writhing and waving. At the end of each tentacle was an open eye, searching the surroundings.

Sure enough... this awful look again.

"No matter how many times I see it, I still find it hard to accept."

Marco looked at Ariana with the same disgust on his face. "Good thing our family's bloodline inheritance isn't like this. Otherwise, I'd definitely choose to be an ordinary person."

Wei En nodded in agreement. "Captain Ariana doesn't have it easy either. When I saw him like this before, I thought he'd undergone a mutation."

"Those mutants really are quite similar to his ability, though of course they're much more insane and terrifying."

"You two!"

Ariana turned back and glared at them. "When you talk bad about me behind my back, could you at least keep your voices down?"

"..."

Wei En and Marco hurriedly shut their mouths, and at the same time sidled a little closer to Lacy.

They were genuinely worried that this captain of the Second Division might suddenly go mad and charge at them...

They did not wait long before Ariana pointed at a three-story building in the deepest part and said, "There. The aura there is the strongest. Lacy?"

"Let's go take a look."

Lacy gripped that two-handed axe again and took the lead, walking in the direction he had indicated.

The others also drew their weapons and followed.

Only then did Wei En learn that the weapon Marco used was a staff.

Its body was made of black, twisted wood, and at the top was not a gemstone like those he had seen in games in his previous life, but a hanging lantern. Dots of firelight drove away the surrounding gloom.

The staff itself was quite beautiful. It was just that paired with Marco's current appearance... it looked ridiculous.

If he had been wearing a black robe, it would have made much more sense.

"Brother Marco, when you came to investigate yesterday, didn't you come here?"

Marco shook his head. "Tina and I only investigated the perimeter. After we didn't find anything, I had Tina use spirit vision and found..."

"Wait!"

Ariana suddenly spoke from behind them. "It's not over there. It's this way, Lacy."

He pointed at a rather dilapidated house on the right, his eyes full of suspicion.

"Hm?"

Lacy flashed to his side, looked toward the house, and frowned. "Ariana, you didn't sense wrong, did you?"

From the outside, compared with the tall buildings around it, this house looked extremely unremarkable.

"The heroic spirits found something special there. They really want to go take a look."

Ariana looked at the tentacles all over his body and frowned. "But they're certain the aura inside isn't something left behind by the Eternal Life Society. It's very unfamiliar."

"Let's go. We'll head in and see."

Lacy did not think too much about it. Carrying the two-handed axe, she flashed over, kicked the door open, and charged inside.

Marco reminded them, "Keep up."

Wei En nodded, tightened his grip on the firearm in his hand, and carefully followed with Tina.

By the time they entered the house, Lacy, who was at the very front, had already gone up to the second floor and was hacking at a locked iron door with her two-handed axe.

As for the tentacles around Ariana, the instant he entered the house, they stretched straight toward that iron door, even dragging him into a wild sprint.

"Hey? Slow down, you lot—hey?!"

After sweeping a glance around, Marco instructed, "Wei En, wait downstairs. I'll go take a look."

"Mm."

Wei En knew his own strength. Going over would not help much, so he simply stayed where he was with Tina.

He sized up the house. The space was not large, and everything inside could be taken in at a glance.

The paint on the walls had long since faded, exposing mottled brick and stone. Cracks showed on the wall here and there, and a dim photograph hung there.

He walked over and wiped the dust off the photograph. It showed a family of three: a man, a woman, and a girl.

However, compared with the group photo of the First Division members he had seen in the Logistics Department, this photo was black and white.

What caught his attention more was that the expressions of the three people... were very serious?

Even the little girl in the middle had no smile on her face at all.

Wei En withdrew his gaze and looked around.

The furniture inside was very simple. An old wooden bed stood in the corner, with an alarm clock placed at its head, though its hands had long since stopped moving.

The floor was laid with old tiles, covered in a thick layer of dust.

On the other side of the room were some odds and ends.

A crude table was piled with clutter, while empty bottles and old newspapers were stacked in the corner.

The glass in the window had been patched up in a makeshift way, and the sunlight filtering through carried only a faint glow.

Clearly, no one had lived here for a long time.

And with all of them barging in, the small room seemed exceptionally cramped, giving off a suffocating, oppressive feeling.

Just then, a dark red notification flashed through Wei En's mind.

[You have stepped into the Sanctuary of Faith of an unknown existence. Because your Spirit level is greater than level 20, you successfully resisted the corrosion of the Power of Despair. Evaluation: Very good. Your courage is commendable. Special reward: Survival Points +3, Spirit Level +1.]

Sanctuary of Faith?

Before he could warn them to be careful, that something was wrong with this place, a rumbling sound came from upstairs.

The iron door had been opened?

Wei En looked up and saw a black aura rushing out from that spot.

"It's the Power of Despair! Lacy!" Ariana shouted in exasperation.

Lacy raised her two-handed axe. "Kuerde!" (Shield Guard!)

Marco also hurriedly waved his staff. The light on the lantern flashed past. "Rashid, Roman..." (Shattering Wind.)

Blades of wind shot out one after another, cutting and splitting apart that black energy.

But that black aura did not sweep toward them. Instead, it seemed to have discovered an even more delicious target, and rushed straight down like a puff of smoke.

"Damn it!"

Lacy caught sight of Wei En and Tina downstairs, cursed, and jumped straight down.

Wei En noticed the black aura and instinctively rolled aside to dodge, firing the flintlock in his hand. "Bang!"

A flash of fire streaked past, but the scene he had imagined, of the energy dispersing, did not appear.

The black aura abruptly sped up, carved an arc through the air, and rushed straight into his body.

Fuck, he couldn't dodge it...

What the hell was going on?